Label:
Warp Records
Release Date:
24/03/2003

'26 Mixes for Cash' is another in the series of Warp Records's this-could-be-the-last-Aphex-Warp-release LPs. A 2-disc collection of some of his rarest and best remixes, plus a couple of new tracks to ensnare the completists and some lovely liner details on the originals too. The title is typical Aphex; he could not give a soapy toss.

For me, he’s always put some of his best ideas into his remixing, allegedly often wiping 90% of the original track and starting from scratch. While his last LP ‘Drukqs’ contained only two flavours (chilled Satie impersonations and dumb, cheesy acid spaz-outs) this is all over the place, but still pure Aphex.

Disc 1 is, for me, is the better of the two, containing the more human, abstract side to his work, best represented here by the Saint Etienne and Seefeel mixes. These down tempo pieces hack up voices into ghostly slivers, splinting them into spindly sharp precision percussion and leaving an otherly and spooked-the-fuck-out vibe. The second disc seems to rely on the more industrial/noise/fuckup side of his productions, don’t listen to the Mescalinum United mix with a migraine. The beauty of this aspect to Aphex is that he always remembers to shove a melody in there, even if it’s hidden beneath layers of tinfoil hammered percussion and walls of groaning sequencers.